RACIAL AND ETHNIC DISPARITIES IN THE EFFECTS OF COVID-19 ON EMPLOYMENT DISRUPTION AND FINANCIAL PRECARITY

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately influenced minoritized individuals, with significantly higher rates of infection and death. One reason for this higher rate is hypothesized to relate to occupational environments of older minoritized populations had going into the pandemic, which also make them more likely to experience disruption in employment due to factors such as illness, and consequently, more financial consequences of the pandemic than their white counterparts. The current project evaluates race and ethnicity differences in disruptions in employment among older workers during the pandemic, and the extent to which those disruptions were related to the inability to pay monthly bills such as rent/mortgage, utilities, medical bills, food, or debt-related payments. Using data drawn from the Health and Retirement Study, including a COVID-19 survey collected in September 2021, this study evaluates older workers who were employed prior to the start of the pandemic to evaluate differences by race-ethnicity in whether and for what reasons they experienced job disruptions, and the extent to which these disruptions were associated with an inability to pay monthly bills. We further evaluate the extent to which being unable to pay monthly bills is moderated by pre-pandemic financial vulnerabilities. Results indicate that Black and Hispanic older people experience more significant financial consequences of job disruptions, and that pre-pandemic financial vulnerabilities significantly moderate the relationship between race-ethnicity and COVID-related financial consequences of job disruptions. To conclude, the policy-implications of these results will be discussed, particularly potential factors that may decrease financial vulnerability during retirement among minoritized populations.

these voices to inform social change, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.The current study aims to fill this gap by drawing on data collected in 2022/2023 among residents of a large public housing development in New England who are age 40 and older (current N=166; expected N=250).Analyses explore relationships between social resources, financial strain, health, and well-being by work status and age.Preliminary analyses suggest that certain forms of social support can buffer the negative effect of financial strain on mental health (but not physical health) among older adults living in poverty and in poor housing conditions.Implications for interventions aimed toward older marginalized adults who are working or looking for work will be discussed.

A WEAK ECONOMY AND AGE DISCRIMINATION DRIVES JOB UNCERTAINTY AMONG OLDER WORKERS Lona Choi-Allum, AARP, Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Older workers have experienced disruptions in the workplace over the past five years, with recent studies showing that a reduction in hours as the most commonly cited reason.Not surprising, the COVID-19 pandemic was a primary contributor, leading to reduced hours or leaving a job involuntarily (laid off or fired).The AARP Value of Experience survey sought to understand the experiences of 2,000 workers ages 40 and older, weighted to be nationally representative by gender, race/ethnicity, age, income, and other variables.Results showed that a weak economy is the main driver of why older workers anticipate losing their job within a year.Those under 50 (37%) are just as likely as those ages 50+ (34%) to say that they could lose their job due to a weak economy.When asked how confident those in the labor force are in finding a new job within three months, one in four workers say they are not confident while nearly half of those who are looking for a job say the same.Those age 50+ (29%) are more likely than those under age 50 (14%) to report low confidence in finding a similar job within three months.The main reasons for low confidence include age discrimination and a weak economy.Workers ages 50+ (40%) are twice as likely as those under age 50 (19%) to say age discrimination is a factor in not being able to find another similar job.This study highlights the perceived difficulties that older workers face in continued employment.

RACIAL AND ETHNIC DISPARITIES IN THE EFFECTS OF COVID-19 ON EMPLOYMENT DISRUPTION AND FINANCIAL PRECARITY
Dawn Carr 1 , Amanda Sonnega 2 , Rebekah Carpenter 1 , Katy (Qiuchang) Cao 1 , and Qize Chen 2 , 1.Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, United States, 2. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately influenced minoritized individuals, with significantly higher rates of infection and death.One reason for this higher rate is hypothesized to relate to occupational environments of older minoritized populations had going into the pandemic, which also make them more likely to experience disruption in employment due to factors such as illness, and consequently, more financial consequences of the pandemic than their white counterparts.The current project evaluates race and ethnicity differences in disruptions in employment among older workers during the pandemic, and the extent to which those disruptions were related to the inability to pay monthly bills such as rent/mortgage, utilities, medical bills, food, or debt-related payments.Using data drawn from the Health and Retirement Study, including a COVID-19 survey collected in September 2021, this study evaluates older workers who were employed prior to the start of the pandemic to evaluate differences by race-ethnicity in whether and for what reasons they experienced job disruptions, and the extent to which these disruptions were associated with an inability to pay monthly bills.We further evaluate the extent to which being unable to pay monthly bills is moderated by pre-pandemic financial vulnerabilities.Results indicate that Black and Hispanic older people experience more significant financial consequences of job disruptions, and that pre-pandemic financial vulnerabilities significantly moderate the relationship between race-ethnicity and COVID-related financial consequences of job disruptions.To conclude, the policy-implications of these results will be discussed, particularly potential factors that may decrease financial vulnerability during retirement among minoritized populations.

EXAMINING THE ROLE OF AGE STEREOTYPES FOR DEVELOPMENT IN CONTEXT
Chair: M. Clara P. de Paula Couto Co-Chair: Maria Wirth This session will focus on age stereotypes, that is, beliefs individuals hold about older adults and the aging process.Two types of age stereotypes will be addressed: those related to how older adults are assumed to be (i.e., descriptive stereotypes) and those related to how older adults should be (i.e., prescriptive stereotypes).Age stereotypes have been shown to be incorporated into older adults' self-concepts (via stereotype internalization) and to influence their development in old age by shaping their expectations, motivations, and behaviors (stereotype embodiment).Considering the relevance of age stereotypes for developmental outcomes, the talks in this symposium will address how they shape individual aging and to what extent age stereotypes and their effects on development are context dependent.The first two presentations focus on cross-cultural differences in age stereotypes.de Paula Couto et al. examine prescriptive age stereotypes across different countries and investigate underlying factors that may influence their differential endorsement.Fung and Fung investigate cultural and age-related differences in the internalization of age stereotypes.The developmental consequences of negative age stereotypes will be addressed by Kornadt et al., whereas their malleability and specificity will be examined by Wirth et al.The last talk by Degen et al. will focus on the fear of loneliness in older adults, and how it affects their motivation to engage in behaviors that can prevent being lonely in old age.

"OLDER ADULTS SHOULD…": CROSS-NATIONAL DIFFERENCES IN ENDORSEMENT OF PRESCRIPTIVE AGE STEREOTYPES
M. Clara P. de Paula Couto 1 , Helene Fung 2 , Sylvie Graf 3 , Thomas M. Hess 4 , Shyhnan Liou 5 , Jana Nikitin 6 , and Klaus Rothermund 1 , 1. Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Thuringen, Germany, 2. The Chinese University of Hong Kong,Hong Kong,Hong Kong,3. Czech Academy of Sciences,Brno,Moravskoslezsky kraj,Czech Republic,4. NC State University,Raleigh,North Carolina,United States,5.National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Tainan, Taiwan (Republic of China), 6.University of Vienna, Vienna, Wien, Austria Normative expectations about how older adults should behave are known as prescriptive age stereotypes (or "prescriptive views of aging," PVoA).Previous research has shown that endorsement of PVoA varies across age groups but has not yet examined the variability of PVoA endorsement across countries.Considering that context may influence the endorsement of PVoA, we investigated differences in endorsement reported by an international sample of adults (N = 2,902) from the Aging as Future study covering the age range from 40 to 90 years in five countries: Czechia, Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the United States (US).We focused on endorsement of two types of PVoA, that is, disengagement (older adults should make way for the younger generation), and activation (older adults should remain socially engaged).Overall, participants reported a stronger endorsement of activation compared to disengagement (i.e., a focus on activation).Replicating previous studies, compared to young and middle-aged adults, older adults more strongly endorsed PVoA.Most importantly, cross-national differences emerged, indicating that overall endorsement of PVoA (averaged across activation and disengagement) was the strongest in Taiwan and the weakest in Czechia and Germany.However, the focus on activation (vs.disengagement) was the highest in the US followed by Hong Kong and Germany, and then by Czechia and Taiwan.Crossnational differences in the belief that the State should support older adults, in cultural values, and in views of own aging predicted the focus on activation and partially explained differences in the strength of this focus between countries.

AGE STEREOTYPE INTERNALIZATION ACROSS AGE AND CULTURES
Nicole Long Ki Fung, and Helene Fung, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong The stereotype embodiment theory suggests that people internalize age stereotypes when they become self-relevant.This study explored the relationship between age and age stereotype internalization across cultures.We recruited adults aged 30 to 99 years from Hong Kong (N=524, Mage= 62.49), the United States (N=492, Mage= 57.90), Germany (N=790, Mage=63.38),Czechia (N=617, Mage=62.05), and Taiwan (N=660, Mage=60.78).Participants rated their selfperception of aging and attitude towards older adults.Across all the items, we calculated an intra-personal correlation score between self-perception of aging and attitude towards older adults.This index serves as a proxy of age stereotype internalization.Among all cultures, Hong Kong (r=0.57) and Taiwan (r=0.58) have the highest levels of internalization, followed by Czechia (r=0.47) and Germany (r=0.45).The United States (r=0.40) has the lowest level of internalization.The relationship between internalization and age varied